Canada moving away from ally on climate change action: Report

MIKE DE SOUZA
Postmedia News

OTTAWA — Canada is drifting away from the climate change policies of one of its closest allies on the international stage because of an approach defined by “uncertainty and lack of commitment,” says a new report released Sept. 22 by a research group based at the University of Ottawa.

The analysis, by Sustainable Prosperity, a network of business and academic leaders who examine market-based policies to improve the economy while protecting the environment, was based on tracking the evolution of environmental policies in Australia and Canada.

Both countries are among the highest polluters in the world when it comes to average annual pollution per citizen because of energy-intensive economies that are dependent on fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

But the report, Carbon Pricing in Australia, noted that successive governments in that country have moved from “denial” in the 1990s about the link between climate change and a devastating drought to a “panic” that eventually prompted the latest generation of politicians to make some progress on the issue.

The minority Labour government, led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and propped up by Green and Independent MPs, is trying to introduce the equivalent of a tax on greenhouse gas emissions that could be adopted by the legislature in October.

The government’s treasurer, Wayne Swan, has argued the plan is part of a “critical transition to a clean-energy future,” to ensure that Australia’s economy does not find itself at a competitive disadvantage that would force households, businesses and industry to pay more in the future. The Australian plan would introduce the tax on emissions to eventually be phased out in a few years and replaced with a system of caps on pollution that would force companies to meet targets by reducing their emissions or buying credits from others that reduce pollution at a price set by the market.

“While much remains to be determined on the future of Australia’s carbon pricing mechanism, it is clear that in the face of substantial opposition, the Australian government has taken large steps towards the implementation of a carbon pricing scheme,” said the Sustainable Prosperity report. “However, there were significant concessions made to big polluters and consumers in order to come to an agreement. For instance, Prime Minister Gillard has confirmed that the carbon tax will not apply to petrol on light on-road transport, keeping gas prices low for consumers.”

On the other hand, the report noted that Canadians rejected carbon pricing proposed by former Liberal leader Stephane Dion in an election, and instead continued to elect a Conservative government that proposed several different plans that were never adopted.

“Canada’s federal approach to climate change policy has been characterized by its changing focus, uncertainty, and lack of commitment, and most significantly by a move from a preference for a market-based policy to a regulatory approach,” said the report.

The report noted that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is following the U.S. lead on establishing regulations to reduce pollution on a sector by sector basis. Harper has justified the approach because of the integrated nature of the North American economy.

Alex Wood, the senior director of policy and markets at Sustainable Prosperity, said the think tank conducted the study to examine why the two countries, with a similar economy and geography, are taking contrasting approaches.

“A lot of folks quite justifiably say that comparing Canadian policies to European policies are not legitimate because of the differences in economic structure,” Wood said. “But Australia obviously doesn’t fall in that camp . . . It’s similar to Canada.”

The report speculated that the Australian population was pushing its government to move faster because of a more direct experience with climate change impacts, when compared to Canada where major impacts in the Arctic are affecting a very small percentage of the country’s population in a large territory.

The report also said that the diverging approaches might have an impact on Canada’s approach to international climate negotiations where Australia has traditionally been a close ally.

“Canadian policy-makers need to carefully consider the implications of a prospective divergence in positions, and how that will affect the pursuits of Canada’s interests,” said the report.